Inspections

In addition to safety audits, the National Rail Safety Regulator may conduct inspections to assess whether a rail transport operator is in compliance with its obligations and responsibilities under the Rail Safety National Law.

Inspections may be conducted in a range of circumstances, such as:

in response to a notifiable occurrence;

to supplement a safety audit to confirm application of systems in practice;

after an observation made or information received by the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR); or

after a report based on safety concerns from a member of the public or a person in the rail industry.

An inspection may also be part of the ONRSR’s ongoing activities which target areas for risk management and prevention, such as when a safety audit has brought to light specific risk factors and/or where indicated by incident trends or operator-specific issues.